Filling the Gap: Caves, Radiocarbon Sequences, and the Meso-Neolithic Transition in SE Europe

Author(s): Clive Bonsall; Adina Boroneant

Year: 2017

Summary

Radiocarbon sequences from some cave sites in the Balkan and Italian peninsulas show a temporal gap between Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations. Some authors have seen this as a regional phenomenon and have sought to explain it in terms of a general population decline in the late Mesolithic, which facilitated the replacement of indigenous foragers by immigrant farmers. In this paper, we re-examine the evidence and consider alternative explanations for the Meso-Neolithic ‘gap’, focusing on taphonomic, economic, social and ideological factors.

Cite this Record

Filling the Gap: Caves, Radiocarbon Sequences, and the Meso-Neolithic Transition in SE Europe. Clive Bonsall, Adina Boroneant. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 429388)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -11.074; min lat: 37.44 ; max long: 50.098; max lat: 70.845 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15862